We had no trouble following the flight of the alien. The lining of the tunnels had been prepared with a luminous coating that gave enough light for us to see the inside clearly.
As we watched, the alien stumbled and fell to the floor. He lay for a long moment, too weary to rise. By this time he must be exhausted. His stamina had already proven greater than we had anticipated.
He rose again and walked doggedly on, searching absent-mindedly in his pockets as he went. I knew he must be hungry and thirsty. He was probably only now remembering the packet he had lost early in his flight. But he did not slow his steady progress forward.
On the right half of the screen we noted that the captain of the sentinels had evidently figured out what had happened. Up ahead his men were hurrying into the numerous branches of the air tunnel and blocking every passage. As they had probably been ordered, they began walking slowly back. We kept our attention on the one who would intercept the fugitive.
The alien stopped occasionally and stood listening. Once he paused longer than usual. Was his hearing that good, I wondered, or was he just being cautious? After a minute he moved forward again, until only a fairly long bend in the tunnel branch separated him from the oncoming sentinel.
This time he did hear his interceptor. He ran quickly back, keeping a close observation on the wall to his left as he went. Soon he found the hiding place he sought. Probably he had noted it in passing before, and had kept it in mind for an emergency of this kind.
Where he stopped a connection in the sheet metal lining the tunnel had come loose and a dark space gaped open. He crawled inside.
The man was stupid, I thought, if he expected the sentinel to pass without noticing the hiding place.
The sentinel was not stupid. But then, we soon found out, neither was the alien.
When the sentinel came to the opening he paused and jabbed tentatively into the dark cavity with the long sword that he carried in his hand. An instant later he stumbled forward, his knees gave beneath him, and he sagged to the floor.